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Founders of startups often receive the vast majority of media attention for their companies. Mind Candy has been no exception despite the fact that hundreds of talented people have all contributed to the amazing journey we’ve been on. There’s one person in particular though that I want to shine a spotlight on who has played an absolutely critical role in making Mind Candy successful.

Some of you may have seen articles in today’s newspapers about the Ultra-Rare Moshi Monsters character Snozzle Wobbleson missing from collectable packs in the UK.
I’m the creator of Moshi Monsters and wanted to apologise directly to our loyal fans for the mistake.

We are a team of 180 people (mostly based in London) who are passionate about creating inspiring and magical children’s entertainment. It is a great industry, but with hundreds of partners on board, mistakes occasionally happen. On this occasion, our toy partner, Vivid, experienced a production issue which meant that no Snozzle Wobblesons were included in the first batch of packs. As soon as we discovered this, we have been communicating to fans about next steps. Rest assured that Vivid are doing all they possibly can to resolve the issue and get Snozzle on shelves asap (hopefully by the end of March) and we are working closely together with them to make this happen.

In the meantime, fans are invited to ‘Snozzle Saturday’ which is being held in The Entertainer stores across England and Wales on March 16th. Here you can swap any Moshling for a free Snozzle Wobbleson – please check The Entertainer website for your local store and further details nearer the time. You can also get further information from the customer services team at Vivid – support@vividstore.co.uk

I’ll be visiting some of the stores on the day to hand out signed Snozzle Wobblesons and meet Moshi fans (details of locations will go up at the Daily Growl nearer the time)
Snozzle is one of my favourite characters and so from now on March 16th will be officially known within the World of Moshi as Snozzle Wobbleson Day. We’ll celebrate the mysterious and elusive jelly headed monster with all sorts of weird and wonderful Wobbleson related activities.
We appreciate the lengths that our fans go to in support of Moshi Monsters and the passion they feel for the characters and stories. We’re lucky to have you and we’ll do our best to avoid similar mistakes in the future while striving to create extraordinary entertainment for our millions of fans around the world.

All the best
Mr Moshi
(aka Michael Acton Smith)

PS - For fans who can’t make it to the ‘Snozzle Saturday’ swap days on March 16th at any of The Entertainer stores in England & Wales, we have arranged for some extra stores in Scotland & Ireland to also hold a ’Snozzle Saturday’. The Snozzle swap days will all take place on 16th March at 10am. Please see the details below of all the extra stores:

I don’t often blog at Mind Candy but because hiring is one of the most important parts of my job I thought I’d put this out.

Mind Candy has a pretty audacious/fun/crazy vision:

“To create the greatest entertainment company in the world for this new digital generation”

Moshi Monsters has been a phenomenon on and offline but it’s just the start of our journey. We’ve learned a great deal about creating digital entertainment and now have many new projects bubbling away for different audiences. We’re inspired by the culture and quality of Pixar and want to create extraordinary entertainment that captivates the next generation across new platforms and devices.

We’ve just moved into a new 30,000 square foot HQ in Shoreditch and are looking to expand the team rapidly. Last year we hired over 100 people and we’ll likely increase that in 2013.

We get dozens of applications every day so it’s vital to stand out from the crowd. Linkedin profiles are important but we often pay more attention to covering letters. Why? Well, we put more value on attitude and ambition than experience. Many people in the company started in one area but have progressed rapidly into new areas. Divinia Knowles started as a PA at Mind Candy just a few years ago and is now our COO and CFO.

We want to work with people who are passionate about their particular area of expertise and love what they do. This is a far cry from the average office worker who wants a 9-5 job and doesn’t really mind what they do all day. We receive a lot of generic covering letters like the one below and they suggest the applicant isn’t particularly fussed where they end up working:

“Dear Sir/Madam, I’m a results orientated team player…”

Covering letters that allow us to learn a little more about you, your passions and your skills are great but if you’re feeling particularly creative feel free to make a short video as a covering letter instead.

Some of the key roles we’re currently looking for include:

CTO

Head of Legal

Head of Licensing Operations

Senior Talent Specialist

Product Managers

A word of warning – high growth companies like Mind Candy are definitely not for everyone. The work can be intense, deadlines tight, and expectations very high, but creating entertainment that delights and inspires millions is never going to be a straightforward or simple job.

If all this sounds intriguing then we’d love to hear from you. Our careers page is here:

The final days before the Christmas break had everyone at Mind Candy believing in Santa Claus again after a huge shipment of iPad Minis arrived at Moshi HQ reception.

The big haul (160 iPads in total to be precise) turned out to be – not from the big man himself, but a particularly generous gift from the management team to every single employee at the company to say a big thank you for all their hard work in 2012. It also gave everyone the opportunity to immerse themselves in the tablet gaming space as we push forward into that arena in 2013.

iPad Minis had also found their way into the stockings of our American Mind Candies over the pond creating even more excitement!

Everyone was thrilled with their extra special gifts which were even engraved with a ‘Merry Twistmas 2012′ message on the back!

If you’re keen to work here, we are still looking to grow our amazing team at Mind Candy so please take a look at our recruitment pages for open positions:

Last week the consumer products team, Poppet and Dr Strangeglove were at Kensington Olympia for the annual Brand Licensing Europe event. Over 280 brand owners showcased their properties with retailers and licensee’s from all across Europe gathering under one roof to hear about the biggest and hottest brands!

The show wouldn’t have been complete without a Mind Candy BLE party. On Wednesday evening we danced the night away to an awesome band after eating plenty of hot dogs, candy floss, popcorn and ice cream cocktails!

Bill has an impressive career and is a great businessman with a fascinating story.

His career began as a commander in the U.S. Army and culminated as Chairman and CEO at MTV Networks International. He has a wealth of experience in entertainment media and drove MTV’s rapid global expansion. Under Bill’s leadership, MTV developed a global operation that now includes 200 channels in over 200 countries and 33 languages!

Bill will be helping us as the company expands globally, develops new brands and launches entertainment such as Moshi TV, cartoons and films.

We’re looking forward to working with him and benefitting from his vast experience as we grow as an entertainment company. Watch this space!